SCOTLAND will remain within the union after the No campaign's victory in Fife handed it an unassailable lead in the referendum.
Needing just over 85,000 more votes to guarantee the win Fife's voters backed

THE First Minister and Prime Minister have responded to predictions that the No campaign is heading for a 55% to 45% win in the independence referendum.
With just three council areas left to declare, including

NORTH, South and East Ayshire have all voted for No in the referendum.
North Ayrshire, which was the first of the three to declare, saw No post a near 2,000 vote lead (49,016 to 47,072).
South Ayrshire

GLASGOW has given its backing to independence campaigners in the referendum.
Yes secured a 53% share of the vote with a vote of 194,779.
The No campaign secured 169,347 votes (47%) with 538 ballots spoiled.

NORTH Lanarkshire and Perth & Kinross voters have gone against traditional party loyalties in the independence vote.
North Lanarkshire, a traditional Labour heartland, voted 115,783 to 110,922 in favour

THE No campaign is almost 150,000 votes ahead of Yes with more than half of the council areas declared.
Many of the biggest population areas have yet to declare but as things stand, with 17 of the 32 votes

DECLARATIONS are beginning to come in more swiftly.
In the last 20 minutes five areas have declared, with four in favour of No and one voting for Yes.
Midlothian (56%), West Lothian (62%), Stirling (60%)

DUNDEE became the first council area to declare for Yes in the independence referendum.
The city voted 53,620 votes to 39,880 in favour of independence.
Turnout was 93,593 (78.8%) with 92 spoiled papers.

THE public have voted 53%-47% in favour of No in the independence referendum in Eilean Siar.
Yes gained 9,195 votes with No securing 10,544. Nineteen votes were rejected as spoiled.
The turnout was 86.

SHETLAND has voted No in the independence referendum.
Almost 10,000 people voted No (9,951) with 5,669 voting in favour of Yes. Fifteen ballots were spoilt.
The share of the vote in Shetland was 64%-36%

ORKNEY has voted in favour of the No camp in the independence referendum.
Just over 10,000 people voted for No (10,004) with Yes claiming 4,883. Twenty ballots were rejected as spoiled.
Voter turnout was

A SERIOUS road crash on the A9 just after midnight is likely to delay the declaration time for the independence referendum result in the Highlands.
Highland Council has warned there may be "some delay"

POLLS have closed in the independence referendum and counting at the 32 centres across Scotland has begun.
The first results are not expected for several hours but already extremely high voter turnouts

LEADING politicians have hailed the considerable turnout at polling stations in today's independence referendum.
Ninety-seven per cent of the eligible Scottish electorate were registered to vote before

YES campaigners claim to have knocked on 4500 doors in Inverness in their battle for the letterboxes.
Donnie Fraser, leader of the grassroots Radical Inverness group, said a tally revealed his members canvassed about 1000 houses for Yes Scotland, while the campaign's own volunteers targeted about 3500.

It was 35 years ago that Scotland's chances of running its own affairs through its own parliament were dashed after less than 33 per cent of the electorate turned out to vote. There was a 51 per cent support for devolution but voter turnout fell short of the 40 per cent requirement. Donna MacAllister looks back at one of the most vibrant periods in Highland politics.